Comic Scene #2 (November 2018)

Now available, the latest issue of Comic Scene is a humour special with 64 pages of fun and frolics ranging from the Beano to The BoJeffries Saga, taking in The Broons, Oink, Asterix and Ken Reid along the way.

There are two dozen short 'n' sweet features in this issue, which gets off to a brisk start with John Freeman wanting to see more investment of money in comics and ends on Pat Mills' desire to see a more subversive edge to humour comics. In between we have an eclectic choice of humour comics from Richard Bruton, Luke Williams dissecting 2000AD's Big Dave, a look back at 80 years of The Beano by Prof. Chris Murray and an interview with Beano artist Emily McGorman-Bruce. (Pause for breath.)

After a brief history of The Broons and Oor Wullie, there's a more modern take on humour in the shape of online subscription comics Goof!, which launched this summer, and Splank!, which started as a April Fool's joke that took on a life of its own. Following that, Richard Bruton looks at The Phoenix, Ian Wheeler takes a (decently lengthy) look at humour strips in the Doctor Who comics, while David Moloney has less than fond memories of IPC's merging of various humour titles. (Pause for breath.)

Pete Doree and David Crookes have happier memories of Cheeky Weekly and Oink! respectively; meanwhile, Chris McAuley opens up the cover of The Bojeffries Saga cautiously and Fred McNamara embraces Asterix with enthusiasm. Rachael Smith continues talking to Richard Bruton, having presumably held her breath since the release of issue one, and Dr. Nicola Streeten looks at why there have been so few female political cartoonists, based on her research for The Inking Woman: 250 Years of Women Cartoon and Comic Artists in Britain (2018). (Pause for breath.)

Frank Quitely briefly explains how he began his comics career in the pages of Electric Soup, and Stephen Jewell celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine animated movie as well as taking a look at the new Sniper Elite series from Rebellion. A couple of independent comics come under the spotlight as Tim Hayes uncovers the story of Paul Grist's Jack Staff, and David Robertson discusses his Wow! Retracted one-man anthology. (Pause for breath.)

And finally, there's just enough puff left to read Irmantas Povilaika introduction to Ken Reid's Odhams strips, recently reprinted in two glorious volumes, before Pat Mills wraps up the issue.

Comic Scene can be purchased in various different formats, as a print mag (which has recently been added to Diamond UK's order forms, so you should be able to order it through your local comic shop), and as a digital download or print edition via the magazine's website. There are a few offers you might want to take advantage of, such as the ComicScene UK Digi Pack, which includes the first four issues, plus a couple of bonus items for half price.

You can also pre-order the Great Big ComicScene Christmas Annual 2019, which is a 300-page, perfect bound book that will feature several strips from a variety of creators, including Simon Furman & Geoff Senior.